The 'bloody' Old Testament

I came across this blog post titled "How Many Has God Killed? (Complete list and estimated total)" on some random blog which reminded me of a post that I wrote (but never finished & published) a few months back.

I think the question raised is not the right one - the question we should be asking is WHY has God killed so many? If you read through the Old Testament it is indeed pretty bloody and one might even ask did God really order all this 'genocide' on his own people Israel and the surrounding nations?


Israel - God's chosen nation

Israel was the chosen nation. But why? God chose this tiny nation that was bullied by all its neighboring super powers. Yet it was his little maiden of his eye. unmerited love from God.
Ezekiel 16:1-14 - Basically says this: Israel was just like a helpless little baby girl who was forgotten and looked down upon and not repected. But God took her into his arms, took care of her, fed her, helped her grow up, taught her how to live, lavished her with clothing and jewels and perfumes and expensive things. She became very beautiful - she "grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels". All because of what God did and not because Israel was worth it.


The proportion of the blessing was even greater than proportion of judgment

In the bible, whenever people followed God's laws and ways and loved him and listened to him (which wasn't very often), they lived peacefully (which wasn't very often). Skeptics and people who try to denounce the Bible because of its violence often don't see (or deliberately ignore) the overflowing richness of God's blessings and mercy.

Ezekiel 20:6-22 basically says this: The Lord promised to bring them out of Egypt (where they were being enslaved and treated nastily) to a land of their own, and land 'flowing with milk and honey' (i.e. abundantly rich), and He told them to rid themselves of idols and vile images (images that turned people's attention away from God). But they didn't. They continued to make and worship ugly things and idols that did not please God (and they knew that God didn't like that stuff perfectly well but they did it anyway). And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy. And He rescued them out of Egypt anyway. And whilst in the desert God provided food and things they needed and laws to live by (so they won't feel lost and know what's good for them and won't argue with each other), but they still rebelled against Him in the desert by not following his decrees and rejecting his laws and made idols. And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy. (Do you begin to see a pattern here?) He looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the desert. So he told their children to be good and keep his laws, unlike their fathers who have gone bad. But these kids also rebelled and went nuts. And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy.

To God who loved and cherished Israel so much to regard her as the most precious jewel in His eyes, it must hurt Him so much to see her being so rebellious and ungrateful. The ultimate tragedy is her rejection of His power and love and mercy, not the loss of life.


God (basically) said, "when you follow me, you will be blessed; when you turn away, you will be cursed." (Deuteronomy 28)

The judgment and horrific loss of life must always been seen under this context reality (of Deut 28), i.e. the reality of such literal, such dramatic manifestation of God's promise. When the demonstration of God's miracles and blessings and presence is so dramatic and powerful, then the curses of God's judgement must also be as terrible. Death is a grim reminder of the nature of sin - horrific, despised, feared.

God revealed CLEARLY his laws and decrees to his people. Thus when they deliberately choose to reject his revelations, they didn't have the right to complain of what of dramatic judgement.
"To whom much is given, much shall be required" - Luke 12:48.

Skeptics and athiests often misunderstand the meaning of a "perfect God" that Christians talk about and thus aren't able to accept a God that seems to endorse killing and sends disasters to innocent people. A perfect God does NOT mean an all-tolerating God. A perfect God must reign with perfect justice and justice involves getting punished for wrongdoings according to the framework of absolute laws - laws that only a perfect God can impose.

God is The Absolute
When we take a life, we are wrong cos we can't restore it, but God can. He is the maker of absolutely everything and the ruler of absolutely everyone, and thus has the absolute rights of ownership over all people and places.

As living beings we can never really understand death, but God does. But we can know that death has its tragedy but also amazing hope if we put our faith in Him. To the believer, God gives hope and confidence to pull us through in the face of death.

Define Majestic

On the way to Yamanaka-ko, going through Yamanashi prefecture, we said hello to Mr. Fuji. He was naked without his usual visage of clouds. And he looked grand. Majestic, even. Good thing I went on a highway bus and not in a car with fellow foreigners who probably would have been captivated by Fuji and not looked at the road and crashed us. And I would have prbably died. Again. So THANK GOD (AGAIN) THAT I DIDN'T DIE or else I wouldn't have been able to write this post. :D

Yamanaka-ko (lake) is one of the Fuji Five Lakes (Fujigoko), an area located at the base of north Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture. The name Fuji Five Lakes comes from the fact that there are five lakes formed by previous eruptions of Fuji.

And when I go back to Yamanashi again, it will be to ride this. And 2 other similarly whopping massive roller-coasters. YES.

(These photos were taken by my mobile)

Meaningless! Meaningless!

² "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 1:2) Solomon was so right.

I have the X-Factor to thank for this post.

I am humble enough to admit that yes, I have been chasing X-factor for the last few weeks, since they started the live shows with the final 12 contestants. But aside from the 1-hour-per-week of entertainment I get from the show, I managed to come away from it with something more.

Just type in X Factor or any of the contestants' names into google news search and you'll find a myriad of stuff about the shows and people. "CONSPIRACY" "FANS FRENZY" "FIX ROW" blah blah blah.

I can imagine such news splashed across the Sun or Daily Mirror's front pages on Monday mornings and sad lonely people clinging to every word and milking everything from it all.

But its so utterly meaningless. I can understand that some people may have up to a certain degree of interest in the lives of these not-even-popstars wannabes. But to make SUCH a big deal out of it, and how detailed these tabloids fabricate things, is nonsense. Who cares if a contestant was voted off because it was all scheming/fixed etc, or how some of them can't sing, or whatever romance is going on backstage.

And this is just a tiny tiny tip of a big big meaningless iceberg. And I don't just mean that the entire X Factor frenzy is meaningless. I mean there's SO MUCH meaninglessness in this world its ridiculous. It just really dawned on me somehow.

I apologise for my somewhat depressing rant.

Stinkin' Hell

Last Saturday I went to hell, which is about 1.5 hrs drive from Tokyo (although it took us 3 because it seemed like everyone was going there last weekend).

Hiroshi, Hezza, Jeimusu and I made a day-road-trip from Tokyo to Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture to see the glorious colours of autumn leaves (check), Ashinoko Lake (check), a glimpse of Fuji-san (check), and the highlight, "The Big Hell", or "Great Boiling Valley", a volcanic valley with hot springs and active sulphur vents (check).



Hakone was PACKED that day. Lots of cars, and lots of people walking around. It was a wonderful day weather-wise, though; and not far from Tokyo, and just the right time for looking at the beautiful autumn leaves. So chances are the entire Tokyo population probably did decend upon it at that same weekend. Despite the traffic, driving through the town and the Hakone area was very nice with different coloured leaves along the roadside.


After having tempura soba for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake, we took the cable car (or ropeway as they call it here) up the hill to hell, anticipation rising with altitude, and seeing smoke and steam spouting from the slopes added to the excitement. But anticipation didn't foresee the big shock that came crashing down as we stepped off the cable car - THE STINK. It can only be described as 'rotten eggs and vomit'. Awful. But awesome.


No photo can rightly capture the awesomeness of The Big Hell, no matter how good or big your camera (and mine wasn't small). It was a combination of all the factors - the smell, the dead trees, the black rocks, the yellow rocks, the steam, the patches of red sand, the streams of warm milky spring water, the faint view of the top of of Fuji looking like its floating in mid-air, and later on the sun at dusk. It may be called Hell, but it was no less than an amazingly awesome experience.





As you can see from the photos, there wasn't much vegetation on the hill, due to a big volcanic eruption N years ago that wiped off most of the life on that hill (N being an increasing number that I couldn't be bothered to research). It was only afterwards (like now - during the course of writing this post) that it dawned on me that I was standing on a VERY active volcanic site. WHAT IF IT HAD ERUPTED AGAIN?! Count yourself lucky, my dear readers, 'cause if it had, you wouldn't have been able to read this very informative post.





Oh and the eggs - they sold these black eggs that were boiled in the spring water. The shell was all black, but the inside was the same, tasted the same, and were sold for 100 yen each.

In conclusion - HELL WAS AWESOME.


(Click: google images of Big Hell)

Sustaining Grace = ?

Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.

- John Piper (Perhaps one of the best theologians of our time)

I definitely think we sometimes use the word 'grace' too loosely. We hear it all the time. "By God's grace we have a child without any physical or mental defects." or "By God's grace we avoided any accidents on that dangerous stretch of road" or even "By God's grace I had just enough money to pay for my groceries at the check-out"...


The Bible-in-a-year guide is taking me through Jeremiah these few weeks. Living in the 21st century, it is not always easy to be able to relate to events in Israel back in 500 something BC, especially Jeremiah's prophecies of constant threats of death and destruction and invasion and disaster etc facing Israel. That's why I listen to (good) sermons. And so I was reminded by John Piper that amidst all the threats of doom in Jeremiah, God's promise is lodged in there somewhere...

Jeremiah 32:36-41

Now therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, "It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence," 37 "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good, and for the good of their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. 41 And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul." 42 For thus says the Lord, "Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them."

Evidently, grace didn't spare calamity upon the Israelites. They had it tough - "by sword, by famine, and by pestilence", as the Israelites themselves described it. These are God's chosen people. Nor will grace spare us from calamity. But that's not the end of it. It is God who has the last word - his promise to save and restore.

God might not stop that car accident, or might not let you have a superficially perfect child, or probably won't stop a church building from burning down. But grace is the light and relief amidst darkness and pain.

Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.

Samukunatta

..which means, it's gotten cold! Yes the winter is roaring in like a hungry caterpillar.

Winter in this part of the world means:

Hiding under the kotatsu (is a table with heating element underneath)

Higher electricity bills

Longer showers

Higher gas bills

Higher water bills

Ever more reluctance to get out of bed

...and thus more rushing through the morning routine

Freezing bicycle rides to and from school. Gale force winds + half frozen rain = NATURE'S FORM OF TERRORISM

Toilet-seat-warmer setting goes up

HOTPOT PARTIES!

Me ta bo - ie getting FAT

Trips to snowy places

Trips to warm places

Apples and oranges

Less insects

Hot water bottles

Winter doesn't sound too bad afterall! (except for the cold part)